Monday, 9 June 2014

Investors in the Nigerian equities again smiled home last week as the market sustained its positive run despite the huge sell pressure fuelled by profit-taking.Activities were mixed during the week despite bargain hunters drive to take advantage of stocks with upside potential but currently trading below their value.Though it experienced some measure of volatility in the month of May, the Nigerian equities market had ended last month higher helped by renewed investors’ confidence.

The last week of May was particularly spectacular as investors maintained their positive outlook in the equities market helping the benchmark index to hit a three months high of 41,474.39.The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) had the previous week stated that the return of domestic investors is partially responsible for the positive run in the market.Speaking at a forum put together by the NSE and CFA Society of Nigeria, Executive Director, Business Development of the NSE, Jalo Waziri, said more investor are returning to the market, increasing domestic participation.He added that though the stock market has shown sign of improve confidence the Exchange still has a lot to do, “year-to-date, 2014, local investors participation in our market outweighs foreign participation.”

The former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has emerged as the new Emir of Kano after the throne became vacant on Friday following the monarch’s death.

The Secretary to the Kano State Government, Rabiu Zakariya, announced the name of the new Emir on Sunday.

Kwankwaso had said yesterday at the Government House in the state capital, that the announcement will be made today (Sunday), after the kingmakers of the Kano Emirate Council paid him a condolence visit.

“Insha Allah, by tomorrow (Sunday) those who are responsible to announce the new emir will do so,” the governor said yesterday.

The former monarch, Alhaji Ado Bayero, died on Friday and was buried the same day in accordance with Islamic rites with the Kano Emirate flag flown at half-mast.

Those in attendance during the prayers include the Vice President, Mr.Namadi Sambo, former military Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari, Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno and his Jigawa state counterpart, Sule Lamido.

Also in attendance was the Sultan of Sokoto Muhammed Sa’ad Abubakar III. However, the Kano state governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, was absent during the burial.

Until his death, Ado Bayero, was the Chancellor of the University of Ibadan.

He was the 13th Emir of Kano from the Fulani dynasty and 56th ruler of Kano Emirate from the late Abdullahi Bayero House.

The appointment of a new governor to lead the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from June 2014 to June 2019 brings the number of persons so appointed since 29 May 1999 to four, although only the last two appointments were made after the 2007 CBN Act was signed into law on May 28, 2007. Joseph Sanusi (1999-2004) and Charles Soludo (2004-2009) had been appointed by President Olusegun Obasanjo, while Lamido Sanusi (2009-2014) was nominated by late President Umar Yar’Adua and confirmed by the Senate, and President Goodluck Jonathan has lately nominated Godwin Emefiele for 2014-2019. He has since been confirmed by the Senate and has assumed duty on the June 3, 2014. The occasion affords us the opportunity to reflect on what our lessons from the preceding three regimes can teach us about the next five years.

It is instructive to note that while the CBN Act had always allowed for a possible maximum of two terms of five years each, none of the three persons to occupy the office so far had been deemed fit for second terms in office, each tending to assume office with seemingly very high credibility only for such credibility to be eroded before the first five-year term is up. This raises a lot of questions: Is Nigeria developing a Single-Term Syndrome? Or, why do Nigeria’s CBN Governors find it so difficult to succeed? Why do they end up failing so catastrophically? Why is it that Nigeria (specifically the President and the 109-member strong Senate specifically) do not know how to appoint CBN Governors who will be successful (at least in their first five years). Will Mr. Emefiele now break the jinx?

Pension administrators, including Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers Ltd. (STANBIC) and ARM Pension Managers Ltd. (ARMAGGW), are currently investing only 2 percent of funds in corporate debt, well below a 35 percent limit, according to data released by the commission also known as Pencom. This compares with 65 percent invested in federal and state government bonds and 13 percent in equities.

New rules are being considered to encourage more investments in corporate bonds, thereby making long-term capital available to fund infrastructure projects, Anohu-Amazu said in a June 5 interview in the capital, Abuja. “We have a huge amount which can go into the development of infrastructure, but what have we now is an under-utilization.”

Tuesday, 3 June 2014

VENTURES AFRICA- Nigeria social banking pioneer, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (GTBank) has launched “The SME MarketHub”, a free business directory and e-commerce portal that will help support Small and Medium scale enterprises (SMEs) activities in Africa biggest economy.

The e-commerce portal, deemed the West African country’s first for SMEs, will help entrepreneurs list, promote and sell their business or services online while taking advantage of numerous business opportunities and tools within the space to enhance profitability.

“The SME Market Hub” will provide entrepreneurs with a platform that will help them “create and maintain online presence and expand their business frontiers to new markets and millions of buyers that are online,” said GTBank Managing Director, Segun Agbaje.

The platform will also create a community that will allow them build meaningful and sustainable relationships with other business owners.

VENTURES AFRICA - It takes one to know one or so the saying goes. So when it comes to identifying the integral characteristics that differentiate a dreamer from the next Oppenheimer or Adenuga, we looked for insight from those who have walked the path already, asking: What do you think makes a successful entrepreneur?

Nkhensani Nkosi

South Africa

One of South Africa’s youngest and most successful entrepreneurs, Nkosi is the founder of the South African fashion label, Stoned Cherrie.

Nkhensani Nkosi

What makes a successful entrepreneur? A clear vision about what you would like to achieve; a life purpose or passion which acts as your regenerating fuel; the tenacity of a stubborn teenager; a “can-do” attitude; accepting that failure is an opportunity to learn and approach challenges with new insights; and a divine spark or energy that enables you to see sunflowers where others see fog.

Mr. Godwin Emefiele, Monday took full charge as the Governor of the Nigerian Central Bank, four months after he was made interim boss. Emefiele’s assumption of office comes as the tenure of the suspended Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, effectively came to an end this week.

The new CBN governor had assured the nation that he would ensure stability for the exchange rate as well as tighten liquidity.

Prior to his appointment as Central Bank Governor, Emefiele was the Managing Director of the Zenith Bank.

His predecessor, Sanusi was suspended on February 20 by President Goodluck Jonathan over his controversial claim that the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had not accounted for $49 billion which he declared missing.

Sanusi who had challenged his suspension in court, had been accused by the government of profligacy while in office.

Frustrated with the ridiculous complexity of trying to buy something online? Hate having to order something then arrange a electronic payment from your bank separately? Would you like the peace of mind that of an easy to-use-escrow service that helps to weed out dodgy online traders by not paying them until you’re satisfied with the goods received?

You’re not alone.

“Bring PayPal to Nigeria.” That’s the rallying call of a group of Nigerian entrepreneurs who are calling on PayPal CEO Scott Thompson to get his company into the country in order to make business and ecommerce easier for locals.

The petition was set up on Change.org by a group of younger web designers running a company called Creativity Kills, who say it’s unfair to leave Nigeria out from using the online payment gateway. PayPal is currently available in 47 other countries in Africa, including South Africa.

Here are a few paragraphs from the petition.

Nigeria is the largest economy in Africa with millions of dollars in e-commerce potential and Nigerians that want to take part in online transactions cannot fully use PayPal which is accepted as the only payment method on some websites.

This has become a source of frustration for us the Legit people who want to carry out ecommerce online but have no access to this feature. Some have defaulted to hood-winking the PayPal system via proxies, we don’t want to any more!

We have the right to carry out online transactions as much as any other country in the world. Granted, Nigeria is known for internet fraud, but not everyone in Nigeria is a fraud. There are people like us who are talented web developers and gurus. I don’t see why we have to suffer for other peoples actions.

We deserve a shot, we are tired of being ostracized by PayPal!

According to the petition, PayPal could bring the service to Nigeria by partnering with local service such as Interswitch, Paga or GTBank. “These are possible scenarios that are better than locking a country out totally”.

Bring PayPal to Nigeria has 391 signatures so far, with 109 more needed to reach its 500 signature goal.

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — With its oil riches a decade past their peak, Algeria is under pressure to overhaul and open its economy. But a new plan to attract foreign investment faces an uphill battle in a country that has a business environment described as one of the most hostile in the world.

Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal said over the weekend that the government intends to encourage more foreign interest in the underperforming agriculture, industry and tourism sectors. Algeria still has a positive balance of trade and foreign reserves of $190 billion, but its energy production has been in decline since 2005 and analysts warn the country, which imports nearly everything, will eventually run out of money if it doesn't change its ways.

Stringent conditions set by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for accessing the 220 billion naira (US$1.3 million) Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) Development Fund is hampering enterprises' access to the money to expand and develop their businesses.

The fund, launched last August by the apex bank, is still sitting idle as the requirements for accessing it are proving too difficult for Microfinance Banks (MFBs) operators to access.

The fund was set up to bridge the funding requirements of a large number of unserved and under-served clients in the Nigerian MSME sub-sector.

However, the private BusinessDay newspaper reported Monday that about 60% of the more than 800 MFBs operating in the country may not have access to the fund on account of their inability to meet the required conditions.

“Hershey, a global company, has invested $20 million to procure cocoa from over 20,000 certified cocoa farmers.

“We will soon launch the Cocoa Corporation of Nigeria, a privately run commodity board, which will further spur growth and investment in the cocoa sector, including cocoa investment funds to boost local processing and value addition,” Adesina was quoted to have said in a statement in Abuja yesterday.

The minister also said Dansa Foods is committing $35 million to establish tomato processing plants in the country.

According to him, the Federal Government is providing nine million high yielding seedlings to small holder farmers and plantation estates in the country to improve oil palm production.